Day 24 : 01-24-12

Day 24 : 01-24-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I was happy to spend a little time in my studio today... The card is still in progress, I have some jewels to add to the crown and finishing touches, then it should be a perfect card for my nieces.

Day 23 : 01-23-12

Day 23 : 01-23-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I love a rainy day!

Day 22 : 01-22-12

Day 22 : 01-22-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I love my succulents! I had to take a picture of this beauty in my backyard. The light was perfect!

Today was a lovely lazy day. A day I like to call "Pajama Sunday!" I figured out how to apply my logo as a watermark in my phone prior to uploading today. Yippee!

Day 21 : 01-21-12

Day 21 : 01-21-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

The Richard & Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. It's a beautiful building with curved lines accented against the sky. 

It was another audition day!

Day 20 : 01-20-12

Day 20 : 01-20-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

It's my baby's birthday!!!

Day 19 : 01-19-12

Day 19 : 01-19-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I made this soul warming chili for dinner tonight. I served it with homemade bacon cheddar cornbread muffins. Delicious!! The perfect meal for a cool day with leftovers ready for a stormy weekend!

I'll share the recipe soon! :)

Day 18 : 01-18-12

Day 18 : 01-18-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I saw this peeling paint today and wondered if my exterior peeled, what would I find?

Day 17 : 01-17-12

Day 17 : 01-17-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

The glow from the lights on our house looked so warm and inviting.... I love home.

Day 16 : 01-16-12

Day 16 : 01-16-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

The clouds and tree really make the day seem colder than it was. The gloominess in this picture seemed appropriate for today... I discovered my car was egged sometime over the weekend. Extremely annoying!

Day 15 : 01-15-12

Day 15 : 01-15-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

There was a brief magical moment when it sprinkled while the sun shined on the pool...

Day 14 : 01-14-12

Day 14 : 01-14-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

Cami takes a private with one of her teachers today at the studio. She's preparing for another audition tomorrow. She worked very hard and did a fabulous job. I know she'll do well!

I loved the concentration on her face as she listened to her teacher.

Day 13 : 01-13-12

Day 13 : 01-13-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I spy with my little eye...

a world of shape and color and much to be grateful for...

Day 12 : 01-12-12

Day 12 : 01-12-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

I had some shopping to do today... Cami's birthday is right around the corner! 

I couldn't resist taking a break from the shopping to take a picture of this lamp post with lights radiating out from it. The brilliant blue sky was a perfect backdrop!

I'd love to go back at night sometime to take a matching picture...

Day 11 : 01-11-12

Day 11 : 01-11-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

It's hard to believe that the trees are starting to bloom in what should be the middle of winter! It really shows how warm it's been this past month. 

It's funny... today was actually a little cooler than it's been in awhile... only reached the low 60's. I needed a little jacket when I went for a walk!

Day 10 : 01-10-12

Day 10 : 01-10-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

It was a tough day today. Cami wasn't feeling well and stayed home from school AND her phone wouldn't work. Luckily, she was feeling much better by the afternoon AND I was able to get her phone exchanged for a new one! It all ended up ok.... but stressful along the journey. 

I had fun "sketching" this photo in Photoshop Express on my phone.

Day 9 : 01-09-12

Day 9 : 01-09-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

It's really hard to believe that it's January... We've had May weather since before Christmas! Another day in the mid 70's... 

I caught Cami resting outside with Clark for a few minutes after school today. A little break in her busy daily schedule.

Day 8 : 01-08-12

Day 8 : 01-08-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

Summer intensive auditions begins! Today was the first of auditions for various companies that will last all month long. 

After the audition I helped Cami with her Honors Biology. I had fun relearning Punnett squares and a little genetics. It was so nice to spend a couple hours together figuring it out. She doesn't ask me for help very often anymore. I love that sometimes she still needs me... I'm so proud! She's such a great student! 

UPDATE 01-23-12: Cami was accepted to Joffey Ballet School in New York City!

Day 7 : 01-07-12

Day 7 : 01-07-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

The living room has returned to normal. Today we took down all the holiday decorations... I am happy to have the simple living room back, although I always love the beautiful, festive holiday decorations.

Day 6 : 01-06-12

Day 6 : 01-06-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

Walter... He's definitely our lucky cat. We found out a couple of weeks ago that he's most likely 10 to 12 years old. Definitely older than we thought he was. Our sweet rescue kitty.

I took this photo as Walter did a little sunbathing in the backyard. It was a beautiful 75 degree day. Lovely!

Day 5 : 01-05-12

Day 5 : 01-05-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

Today was an early release day for Cami. We go out to lunch together every couple of weeks. These moments mean so much to me.

Day 4 : 01-04-12

Day 4 : 01-04-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

Today was another beautiful day with temperatures in the 80's! We've had weather like that since Christmas.

Clark got stress colitis when we left him for a few days while we were out of town. Now he's all better and begging to play, as usual!!

Day 3 : 01-03-12

I took pictures of Cami at the studio today. She needs an arabesque photo for upcoming auditions. (I have a much better one I'll have to post later from a photo shoot we did in late November.)

January is a busy month... It's national audition tour time for ballet/dance summer intensives. There are four companies/schools that she wants to audition for this year. She loves the auditions, loves the master class that she takes at each audition. She LOVED attending American Ballet Theater over the summer. It will be interesting to see if she chooses to go away this summer... She really wants to take summer school so that she'll be ahead for next school year. If she does that she will take the wonderful local summer intensive. We'll have to wait and see what happens!

Day 2 : 01-02-12

Last day of winter break... We have breakfast as a family at one of my favorite restaurants. 

It was sad to see Leila head back home. It was so nice to have the whole family together for a full week! I love seeing the girls together having fun, giggling, and having movie sleep overs until late at night. Now back to school for Cami and to a regular routine once again. 

Also... Happy Birthday to Harmony!

Day 1 : 01-01-12

Norm & I have dim sum to start the new year. It was the first year that both our girls weren't home to join us... it was lonely without them. 

Today is the first day of my 2012 Project 365 (plus 1)! A photo and thought(s) about each day of the year. I am VERY excited about having a photo journal! Of course I'll be posting more than just my Project 365 here... After all it's my place for "adventures in life and art!"

Costco Inspiration...

A few days ago at Costco I saw this wonderful little bag filled with four beautiful, small eggplants. I picked up a package... I was inspired to look for and try a new eggplant recipe. This ended up being a VERY good idea!


I really enjoy using "epicurious" site to find new recipes or ideas to try when I have one specific ingredient that I want to build a dish around. I typed in "eggplant" and waited to see what I'd find. Lots of options popped up, but one in particular caught my eye. I knew I would have to make it! Eggplant and Smoked Gouda Open Faced Grilled Sandwiches... I clicked on it... I knew I was going to try it and when I saw the ingredients and read the instructions... oooohhhhh.... it HAD to be good! It's basically bruschetta with grilled eggplant and yummy cheese melted on top! WOW!


So this is how it turned out...

...DELICIOUS! We all enjoyed it! A wonderfully light, scrumptious dinner! I can hardly wait to make them again! :)


Thank you Costco, for providing the inspiration...

A Delightful Summer...

A delightful summer... SALAD!!!! 

It was the perfect way to end a hot day! I found this recipe in the August 2011 Cooking Light and I did make a couple of substitutions/additions. You can find the recipe on my recipe page (click here!). 

The salad is called, Herbed Shrimp and White Bean Salad. Don't like shrimp? Substitute chicken breast strips! Lazy?! Get the chicken breast strips from Costco and just flavor them up a little with some lemon pepper and a little kosher salt before proceeding with the rest of the recipe! Easy AND delicious! 

I like having a bottle of roasted red bell peppers in the fridge. This came in handy because I didn't have to roast the red bell pepper... no heating up the oven! I just pulled some of those handy strips out of the bottle, drained them, and chopped! Wah lah! 

Arugula not your thing? Substitute baby spinach or your favorite lettuce! I LOVE baby spinach so that was our green of choice. I find shrimp's always yummy with spinach! I have a Thai shrimp curry dish I like to make that has baby spinach... ooohhh I digress. (I'll add that recipe later!) 

Ooops... Just remembered, I did heat up the oven... but briefly so that I could toast the pine nuts for 5 minutes. I would definitely not skip this step, it adds a lovely dimension to the nuts! They were the perfect addition!

Whenever I'm cooking something I always look in the fridge to see if I can use up anything. Well, today I had some corn on the cob from Costco. I grabbed one of those fresh ears and cut off the kernels and added that to the salad! YUUUMMMMYYY! I will keep that as one of the ingredients for sure! It added a nice little sweetness.... mmmmm... summmmeerrr!

The herbs are a very integral part of the flavor of this salad, definitely don't skip them! The red onion... FABULOUS! These bright tastes remind me of the flavor profile of a nice Thai salad. In fact, next time I make it I may chop a few mint leaves along with the other herbs... Oh yeah... that would be gooooood! 

A perfect way to end a delightful summer day... 

2010 Holiday Card

I just finished putting together the final draft of this year's holiday card... I LOVE shutterfly! It made it soooo easy! I can't wait to get the cards in the mail... It will be fun to send these to friends and family! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Starlight Joy Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

It's been awhile...

I've missed this little space... This space to journal and record projects, events, ideas... I know the space has always been here... it's me who's gone missing! Well... here I am! :)

What's going on? ... I've been enrolled in a digital SLR photography class for the last three weeks. I am LOVING it! It's called "Oh Shoot!" and the instructor is Candice Stringham.  It's been terrific! I am taking that leap from only using my fancy camera in Automatic mode to the BIG "M!" I just completed Week 3... This is the week we made the jump to full manual. I've taken lots of photos... Practicing! Here are my favorite three from the week!

I LOVE my orchids! This one just opened a couple days ago... (These are the settings I used when taking this photo: Shutter Speed: 1/80 Aperture: f/2.0 ISO: 200 Focal Length: 50mm

White Balance: Tungsten light)

We got a PUPPPPPYYYYYY!!!! His name is Clark! I've been taking lots of pictures of the newest member of our family! (Settings: Shutter Speed: 1/125 Aperture: f/2.0 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 50mm White Balance: Shade)

My babies!!! I am sooo happy to be taking this class! I've loved learning about depth of field, apertures, shutter speeds, etc. (Settings: Shutter Speed: 1/100 Aperture: f/3.5 ISO: 200 Focal Length: 50mm White Balance: Shade)


It's nice to be back...

What could be better...

...than a delicious meal of hearty soup and crusty bread...

It's just sooo satisfying!

Harmony turned me on to this recipe! I substituted fat free half and half for the heavy cream the recipe called for. It was wonderful! I did have to serve an "appetizer" of lactaid pills for Norm because of the dairy addition, but I think he thought it was well worth it! (Thanks again Harmony!) 

Cameron loved dipping the wonderfully fragrant rolls into the soup. I think I may have to try that dough as a pizza crust one day... I think it would be scrumptious!

I again made this little photo collage with the photos I took on my iPhone along with the app. As you can see I had a shadow on the soup and not quite enough lighting for the rolls... but I think it still looks yummy!

I have a break from cooking tomorrow... Norm's talking about picking up Versailles (cuban food) or maybe ordering some Wood Ranch (BBQ). It's going to be a hard choice!

Mmmmm.....

Today I did a little baking...

They are so very yummy! The Maple Lemon Butter I made to go with these delicious little muffins is wonderful too... It's been kind of gloomy outside today, it's been nice to warm up the kitchen with the wonderful smell of lemon and fresh blueberries. 

A couple of days ago I discovered a new "app" for my iPhone. It's called "Lifecards." It's like having a small Photoshop program in my phone! I took the photos of the muffins with my phone and then made this postcard... all while sitting at the table sipping my tea and enjoying one of these fabulous delights! The app has lots of templates and it's fun to pick and choose which one to use. I think I'll use it often. 

There is another app I've been having lots of fun with... It's "Words with Friends." Leila turned me on to it. She and I have been having fun playing Scrabble with each other on it... I get a little note from the app when it's my turn... I can see if she's looking at the game at the same time (cute little eyeballs show up!) and we can "chat" from within the game. It has been VERY fun to do this with her... although she is totally kicking my butt.... (that's not very nice, Leila...) Although it is very fun, the app has been having some crashing issues. I've had to delete and reinstall the program a couple of times. Hopefully the company we'll have it all sorted out soon so I don't have to do that anymore!

Well... look at the time... I'm off to my chauffeuring job now...